Ethical Issues of Abortion and Stem Cell Research

Dr Chan Ho MunAssociate ProfessorDept of Public and Social AdministrationCity University of Hong Kong

Nov 25, 2009

Abortion

Outline

Terminology Moral Considerations Policy Review

Terminology

Zygote ( 受精卵 ): fertilized ovum (egg). Blastocyst ( 囊胚 ): the ball of cells not yet

embedded in the uterus wall. Embryo: the developing organism from 2nd to

8th week of gestation. Fetus: the developing organism from then till

birth.

Terminology

Embryo (broad sense): the developing organism from day 1 of gestation till 8th week.

Fetus (broad sense) : the developing organism throughout development, i.e., from day 1of gestation till birth.

Viability: The point at which the fetus could survive outside the womb, depending on the size and lung development. Viability takes place at around weeks 20-28 of the fetal development.

Moral Considerations

A slippery slope argument against abortion Being human Being like human Right-based arguments for abortion Middle ground Virtue-based approach

A Slippery Slope Argument against Abortion

If aborting an embryo is morally permissible, it will be morally acceptable to abort a fetus at the early stage of gestation. This will eventually lead to the moral acceptance of late term abortion of viable fetus and eventually infanticide.

Objection: The slope is not so slippery. Late term abortion and infanticide could be effectively prohibited by the law.

Being Human

– Fetuses are members of the human species. All humans are of equal moral worth and have the equal right to life. So abortion is morally wrong.

– Objections:Begging the question: why should we count

fetuses as humans? The major premise of many pro-choice arguments is that fetuses are not humans. So they do not possess the right to life.

Being Like Human

It is not membership that grounds moral worth. Rather it is because a fetus has certain characteristics like human beings.

Killing someone is morally wrong because it causes her premature death. It deprives her of a “future like ours” (FLO) (Marquis)

Abortion deprives the fetus’ FLO. So it is morally wrong.

Right-based Arguments for Abortion

They are arguments from analogy. Thomson’s violinist argument: You wake up

in the morning and find that the circulatory system of a violinist is plugged into your body. He has fatal kidney aliment but will recover in nine months with your help. To unplug you would be to kill him, but it sounds morally permissible to do so.

Abortion is permissible even if fetuses are human beings.

Right-based Arguments for Abortion

Thomson’s People-seeds argument: Imagine that people-seeds can drift in the air like pollen and take root in your carpet or upholstery. You have taken precaution to fix up screens at the window of your house. Yet as happens on very rare occasion, a seed manages to drift in your house because one of the screens is defective. The person-plant does not have a right to the use of your house even though you voluntarily open windows, knowingly keep carpet and upholstered furniture, and your window screens sometimes have defects.

Right-based Arguments for Abortion

Objections:– The violinist argument seems only applicable to

the case of rape.– The fetus is innocent, so the argument from self-

defense seems not applicable.– The argument from necessity is not applicable

either.– People’s seeds argument seems to hinge upon

the assumption that fetus is not a human being.

Right-based Arguments for Abortion

– You don’t have the duty to save another person’s life by allowing him/her to use your body, your savings, and so on, but you are not relieved of your duty of not to take a life even if its fulfillment means the loss of everything your have. (Duty to save a life vs. duty not to take a life).

– Thomson’s arguments may not work if a fetus is a human life.

Middle Ground

The right to life is not all or nothing, and has degree.

All sentient creatures have rights to life to a certain extent. Cruelty to animals is a criminal offence.

We can sacrifice the life of an animal for the sake of saving a human being but not the other way around because humans are of higher moral status or have more intrinsic value.

Middle Ground

Yet we could only kill a person except for self-defense or in a just war (pacifists would disagree).

A fetus does not have the same moral status as a human being, but it doesn’t follow that it has no moral status. So abortion is something that we should avoid.

Fetus has evolving value as it grows. Much stronger justification is needed for abortion of a later term fetus.

Virtue-Based Approach

We shouldn’t just focus on the moral status of a fetus or whether or not women have the right to abortion. Abortion is not just killing something or a choice.

Abortion for shallow reasons could be self-centered, light-minded or callous.

A right decision is one that would lead to a good life.

Virtue-based Approach

The maturity of a fetus, the health condition of a woman, the value of parenthood and family relationships have to be taken into considerations.

Policy Review

Relevance Ordinance in HK– The term “termination of pregnancy” rather than “abortion”

is used.– Legal termination of pregnancy requires the certification of

two medical practitioners that: continuing the pregnancy would involve risks or

physical/mental damages to the pregnant woman or the child if it were born; or

the woman is pregnant before the age of 16; or the woman is the victim of a sex crime.

– Late term abortion is prohibited. Abortion must not be performed after the 24th week of pregnancy, except for the sake of saving the pregnant woman’s life.

Policy Review

Termination of pregnancy: Has the fallacy of colorization been committed?

Slippery slope: It is hard to clearly define what are “risks or physical/mental damages to the pregnant woman or the child if it were born”. Getting the required certification of two medical practitioners is not so difficult. It eventually leads to abortion on demand.

Counselling and other supports are not readily available.

Around 40% of young people abort their first pregnancies.

Stem Cell Research

What is a Stem Cell?

Stem cells: undifferentiated, multi-potent, precursor cells, capable of developing into virtually any body tissue.

Three types of stem cells:– Embryonic stem cells (ESC)– Fetal stem cells– Adult stem cells

Main Sources

Non-embryonic stem cells: adult bone marrow (Ethically uncontroversial)

Embryonic stem cells:– Miscarried or aborted embryos/fetus; – Extra embryos left over from in vitro fertilization

(IVF).– Embryos created for research by IVF– Embryos from therapeutic cloning

Potential Treatments

They may be used to replace damaged organ tissues (e.g., cardiac tissues), repair irreversible injuries (e.g., spinal cord injuries), or cure diseases (e.g., Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases).

ESC is most promising for treatment, and therapeutic cloning can avoid the problem of immunological incompatibility.

Ethical Issues

To harvest stems cells from an embryo is to destroy it.

For: Left-over from IVF or miscarried/ aborted embryos/fetuses are already there.

Against: The IVF and abortion should not have been done in the first place. Letting the embryos die is different from actively killing them.

Ethical Issues

For: Embryos are not humans. Against: Destroying an embryo to harvest

ESC is equivalent to killing a child to obtain his organs.

For: Therapeutic cloning can avoid the problem of immunological incompatibility

Against: The embryo is not created for reproduction, and is treated as a means.

Ethical Issues

For: We can’t ignore he wellbeing of many patients who may be cured by ESC research, and the freedom of scientific inquiry and research.

Against: We can’t do evil though it may lead to good result.

References

Abortion:– Judith Javis Thomson, “A Defense of Abortion”, in Hugh

LaFollette (ed.) Ethics in Practice: An Anthology, 2nd edition, Oxford: Blackwell, 2002, pp. 63-71.

– Don Marquis, “An Argument that Abortion is Wrong”, in Hugh LaFollette (ed.) Ethics in Practice: An Anthology, 2nd edition, Oxford: Blackwell, 2002, pp. 83-93.

– Rosalind Hursthouse, “Virtue Theory and Abortion”, in Hugh LaFollette (ed.) Ethics in Practice: An Anthology, 2nd edition, Oxford: Blackwell, 2002, pp. 94-103.

– Baruch Brody (1972), “Thomson on Abortion”, Philosophy and Public Affairs, no. 3 (Spring 1972), pp. 335-40.

References

Stem Cell Research– Knoepffler, N. (2004), "Stem cell research: an ethical

evaluation of policy options", Kennedy Institute of Ethical Journal 14.1, pp. 55-74. (required)

– Edmund D. Pellegrino & Myron Genel, “Should Federal Funds Be Used in Research on Discarded Embryos?” in Physician’s Weekly XVI (No.37), October 4, 1999. (optional)

– Ronald M. Green, “The Ethical Considerations,” in Scientific

American, November 24, 2001